Friday, June 27, 2014

[COMMENT]Dick Cheney was on with Hugh Hewitt this week for an hour. Hugh replayed it in the third hour. He does this a lot. I think Hugh really only wants a two hour show. During the Cheney interview Hugh asked if he thinks we will be hit by terrorists again. Undoubtedly he said. That was scary and depressing to say the least. After the interview at 5 o'clock Hugh starts talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hugh has a shtick where he just dives in and starts talking about sports in sort of a jabbing and joking way. I'm sure he thinks it's hilarious. It's unbelievably annoying and after that interview with Cheney it was just inappropriate as hell. I don't listen to Hugh for jokes or sport quips. I listen because he's serious about what's going on in the world and is a great interviewer. I tweeted him and said if you are going to talk about sports I'll just go listen to Larry Elder.

This town...this country has a cult-like interest in sports. I heard a report about people in mid city LA doing stupid stuff in the street after Mexico won a soccer game. They were flying the Mexican flag. Did anyone tell these people they live in the United States? It's been non stop World Cup this week. Google is even posting World Cup Google Doodles all this month. Just kill me now. I'm reading lots of complaints online about it. I heard Doug McIntyre say that we have a blockbuster story! Labron James is cutting his contract short and moving to another team. Really? Should I care about a millionaire with a bad attitude?

I have never understood this obsession with sports. It's a business with millionaire players, and people just go gaga over this stuff. Who has time? I'm busy, aren't you busy? Who has time or an attention span to sit and watch three hours of a baseball game? Some people have obscure stats about some ball player in 1947, enjoy that if that's your thing. And this completely out of control college sports fanaticism. Aren't you there to learn something? Ahh baboo.

Look, I like sports. I'm just not obsessed with it. I grew up with a 5 foot tall loud Irish mother drinking wine and smoking cigarettes who would take the phone off the hook and watch Viking games on TV. She would get off the couch and yell at the TV. I get it. I love football but I don't care about it to the point where I know Jim Smith from the Dolphins pulled a hammie. Wimbledon is starting. I love watching that. I even watch golf occasionally, I'll be reading the paper at the same time though. Sports, in my opinion should be a mere interest, a passing interest, just entertainment. If you are turning cars over and or crying because your team lost, you might want to walk it back a bit. Sports does not have any impact or have any effect on our lives in an important way. Maybe we could put that energy into protecting our country from people that want to kill us.

The great Charlie Tuna posted this on his facebook page: Funny thing about the post of this photo by my youngest son Bryan below, the photo was taken 7 years before Bryan was even born:) And on this 5th anniversary, June 25th, Of Michael Jackson’s Passing...the story behind this picture was a 14 year old Michael with me in 1973, in my Woodland Hills, California Studio, for my first interview with him. Michael came alone that day with no entourage or publicity team, and notice the word “Love” on the front of his T-Shirt. That’s what Michael was all about from the beginning! You can listen to a couple of clips of my interview with Michael that day on my website link http://www.charlietuna.com/2014/06/25/5th-anniversary-june-25th-of-michael-jacksons-passing-audio-memories/

On McIntyre in the Morning this week @Ed_Klein talks to Doug about his new book "Blood Feud" which reveals some tense moments between the Clintons and the Obamas! Are you sure it's not called "Blood Clot"? Anyway here is the audio that Doug generously posted on facebook. Doug is off the week of the 4th!

In the 5am hour on Tuesday on KFI, Michael Crozier sitting in for Gary Hoffmann had his daughter on the air. Michael has talked about the fact that he is a single dad for years. Sounds like a very well adjusted kid and Mike sounds like a great parent. They talked about what fun stuff they will do during the summer. I can't imagine that his daughter was thrilled about getting up before dawn and driving to KFI. I guess they live an hour east of LA. Mike has been on the air a lot lately. Definition of stamina in radio is staying at a job for years and years until you get your own show, he may be almost there. *Anyone notice that KFI changed their tag line to "More Stimulating Talk"? they took out the "Radio"A 76 year-old AM station jumps to FM.Sonoma Media Group’s “News Talk 1350” KSRO is the latest AM to make the jump to FM. Owner Lawrence Amaturo last week powered up the new Santa Rosa-licensed translator K276DT at 103.5 FM, putting the station that dates back to 1936 on the FM dial. Sonoma says the simulcast is designed to appeal to younger listeners who can’t be found on AM radio.Happy Birthday to former KABC newsman Rob Marinko!He posted this on his facebook page:Miranda insisted that I have a great time on my birthday. Done. What a terrific wife! — at Red Rock Casino Resort Spa.

Happy Birthday To Chuck Niles who would have been 87 this week. He passed away in 2004. Chuck Niles was a well-known jazz disc jockey who became the only jazz DJ to be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Niles first gained notoriety on Los Angeles commercial jazz station KNOB-FM in 1957 and then in 1965 moved to KBCA-FM. He was also on KKJZ on the campus of Long Beach State. This man had pipes and class, he's missed.

[SIRIUSXM]YouTube, SiriusXM to launch weekly hits countdown show"Our nationwide audience tunes to SiriusXM Hits 1 as the home of the best pop music and the first place to play new artists and new music. With The YouTube 15, we will take that promise of music discovery even further, delivering songs emerging from YouTube directly into the car and also through the SiriusXM app for smartphones and tablets."http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2014/06/26/youtube-siriusxm-to-launch-weekly-hits-countdown-show/11380301/Author Tom North Tells How Transcendental Meditation Was His Saving Grace on SiriusXM Radio Talk Show, "Success Without Stress", with Host Bob Roth

[QUOTE]"Soccer is a silly sport where people burn things when they lose" - Ben Shapiro[TWEET]Looks like Bryan Suits really wanted the same glasses as Doug McIntyre has, so he did.

[PODCASTS]Gilbert Gottfried has a great new podcast. He posted a few new shows with people I can't believe he got.Here are the last three shows that are posted and ready to hear:Paul Shaffer - Bandleader from Letterman!Larry Storch - Comedian from F-Troop the TV showGianni Russo - He is best known for his role as Carlo Rizzi in The GodfatherIt's a lot of laughing on these show, just love it.

I was about to throw away a copy of the LA Weekly from last week and I was thumbing though it and saw Tom Merritt. Tom used to work for Leo Laporte doing Tech News Today up at the Brick House in Petaluma. His wife got a job with Youtube and they moved down to West LA. Tom was gonna keep doing the show via Skype but something happened and they hired someone else that would do the show in studio. But he bounced back and in the LA Weekly article it shows it may have been the best thing that ever happened to him.

[PLATE]NTPRFCT[BOOK]Dennis Prager this week had on author Fred Kaplan talking about his new book John Quincy Adams: American Visionary

Fred Kaplan, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Lincoln, returns with John Quincy Adams, an illuminating biography of one of the most overlooked presidents in American history—a leader of sweeping perspective whose progressive values helped shape the course of the nation.

In this fresh and lively biography rich in literary analysis and new historical detail, Fred Kaplan brings into focus the dramatic life of John Quincy Adams—the little known and much misunderstood sixth president of the United States and the first son of John and Abigail Adams—and persuasively demonstrates how Adams's inspiring, progressive vision guided his life and helped shape the course of America.

Friday, June 20, 2014

[COMMENT]It's funny how much it takes for people to say OK, this is bad. A lot of people are now saying that Obama is really not doing well... now. A recent poll shows his ratings are as low as they have ever been. People are stubborn. I guess we have to get to a point where there are 8 scandals and people screaming bloody murder and then they start to change their minds. Sean Hannity was saying "I could have told you about him 6 years ago". I heard it then and he's right. I think the President is doing real long lasting damage to our country, and we still have two years left. I hope more and more the people that voted for him will speak up and cool things off. Gotta put some breaks on. Go play more golf and stop working Mr. President, I'm down with that.

This week was 20 years since OJ drove the Bronco or something and several radio stations decided to spend time talking about this. Who cares? Do you care? Bryan Suits of all people spent time on this. I can choose between his show, Dennis Prager or Rush and he thinks I want to hear that? What is the point? I don't care if I ever hear another thing about OJ in my life. It dominated all of media for years, can we just kick some dirt on it? And you know as soon as OJ does his 9 years in jail and gets out, it will be another feeding frenzy by the media. There is soo much crap happening these days I have to push the frivolous things aside, filter out the junk. I mean I don't just want to hear about Iraq and the IRS scandal and who's gonna run for president. I like hearing humorous stuff and music occasionally. But don't feed me worthless crap. OJ is worthless crap. Bryan Suits would say it's "balloon juice". OK so it's the 20th anniversary, yea......and? I guess it's really easy for radio stations to just not have to do anything and go with an anniversary of some event. Unless you were not born yet and have no idea what happened with OJ, I get that, but those people are not listening to talk radio. Step it up and stay tuned in to what people want to hear guys. Lots of choices out here. "We are gonna talk to Leo Terrell about OJ" is not my idea of a good time....click.Also there is some big story about ratings getting messed up in LA, do you care? Neither do I.

[RADIO]Edison Research Conducts First Ever “Share of Ear” Measurement For All Forms Of Online And Offline AudioDespite a constantly changing audio landscape, broadcast radio controls more than half of the more than four hours a day that Americans spend with all sources of audio.

Did you know there is a bass player named Jerry Scheff that played with Elvis Presley and Elvis Costello? He also played on The Doors LA Woman. And his son Jason Scheff, since 1985, has been the bassist and singer for the veteran pop-rock band Chicago (white shirt in back row). Jason was on this week with Dennis Miller and talked about a new album by Chicago called "Now" XXXVII. http://www.chicagotheband.comThey sound great and you can see and hear them play this new tune on the website. Podcast one interview with Jason Scheff and Dennis: http://podcastone.com/Miller-Time

Bohannon, who will host his syndicated radio show from Champaign's WDWS studios Tuesday night, is a 35-year broadcast veteran, and he has plenty of stories to tell. Interviews with prize fighters, presidents, nuclear physicists and entertainers, to name a few.

Jazz radio fixture Leah Tourkow dies at age 91FORT WAYNE – She was an insomniac who loved taking late-night jazz requests from hospital emergency rooms and bagel factories. So much so, she was a disc jockey on the radio for 63 years. She is one of eight people credited with saving public radio in Fort Wayne in the late 1970s, but her life wasn’t just a voice over the airwaves.http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140619/LOCAL/306199951

[SIRIUSXM]Stern birthday bash video to stream on Sirius XM.Sirius XM Radio brought back Howard Stern’s birthday party broadcast this year, attracting a slew of celebrity guests from Jon Bon Jovi and the Black Keys to Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman. Now the satellite broadcaster will video stream for free the 4-hour, Jimmy Kimmel-hosted extravaganza starting June 23 through July."Howard Stern's Birthday Bash" viewers will be able to pause, rewind, and jump to favorite performances and share scenes on a variety of mobile devices. "So much happened that night; the skill and artistry of performances; the stories that came out of the audience; even a rare glimpse of me having a good time,” Stern said in a statement. “This video gives you the best view of it all."

[QUOTE]"I didn't hear one second of Casey Kasem" - Doug McIntyre

[TWEET]

[AUDIOBOOKS]The great Scott Brick posted this on facebook. Happiness...! I'm winging my way to Kansas City to speak at the HEAR Now festival, listening to Pillars of the Earth as I go. A weekend hanging around with people as passionate about the spoken word as I am? Must be what Heaven is like.

[PODCASTS]TWIG with Leo Laporte. This week talking about the cloud and the Amazon Fire phone. It's a weekly must hear show if you want to know what's going on in tech. Also Google to announce Auto Link car system at Google I/O. G Watch and a lot more.http://twit.tv/show/this-week-in-google/254

[BUMPER STICKER]

[LA PHOTO]Downtown in 1958 looking north.

[PLATE]NAAARRF

5 radio spots recorded in 1974 when Lennon guest-DJ'ed for WKHJ in Los Angeles

[ON THIS DAY]June 14, 1922 - Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to be heard on radio. The event was the dedication of the Francis Scott Key Memorial at Fort McHenry.

[CLASSIC RADIO]Ad from 1956

[PARTING SHOT]Sad to hear the news this morning. I enjoyed sharing the same space on the radio with Casey Kasem.Our friendly competition lead to years of friendship and respect. We will all miss his style, his voice, and his ability to communicate. Casey was an original who can’t be replaced.-Rick Dees